Fastener for button-shoes.



J. W. BAER & E. YOUNG.

FASTENER FOR BUTTON SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED mu! 23.1915.

Patented June 20, 1916.

rinrrien sierra JOHN W. BAER, 0F DANVERS, AND ERNEST YOUNG, 0F LYNN,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS T0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON,NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

FASTENER FOR BUTTON-SHOES.

Application filed July 23, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN TV. BAEI. and ERNEST YOUNG, citizens of theUnited States, residing at Danvers, in the\county of Essex and State ofMassachusetts, and Lynn, in the county of Essex and State ofMassachusetts, respectively, have invented certain Improvements inFasteners for ButtonShoes, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likereference characters on the drawings indi cating like parts in theseveral figures.

This invention relates to fastening devices for holding the flaps ofbutton shoes in proper relative position while the upper is beingoperated upon, as during the last ing and subsequent operations. It hasbeen the practice to button the shoe by hand, and, after the shoe hasbeen lasted, to unbutton the shoe by a pull on the buttonhole flap. Theupper, when the shoe has been lasted, is held in close conformity to thelast and under tension and it frequently happens that the force of thepull necessary to unbutton the shoe tears or distorts the buttonholesand sometimes pulls off the buttons.

The fastening device of our invention is designed to obviate thenecessity of hand buttoning and u-nbuttoning and provides a fastenerwhich will hold the button and buttonhole flaps in proper relativeposition during the various operations on the shoe, and whichmay bereadily applied and removed.

One feature of the invention resides in the construction by Which thebutton and buttonhole gripping elements are arranged Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented June 20 19 16.

Serial No. 41,531.

spacings of the buttons and buttonholes of a shoe upper.

To this end, our device, in the embodiment selected for illustrationherein, comprises a plurality of fasteners spaced apart and eachcomprising what may be termed generically, button and buttonhole gripsand which specifically take the form of clasps for the buttons andadjacent upwardly projecting hooks designed for in sertion throughadjacent buttonholes to engage the edges thereof. The series offasteners are so constructed that they may be, and preferably are,formed from a single piece of metal, such as a single length of wirebent to shape. The wire connections between the fasteners are bent tocurve the fasteners so that they present a curvilinear arrangement ofbutton and buttonhole grips corresponding substantially with the curveof the buttons, and buttonholes of a shoe upper. These connections areof flexible material, so that the series of fasteners may be variablyspaced to accommodate them to variance in the spacing of the buttons andbuttonholes and incidentally, to the accompanying slight variance in thecurvature of the buttons and buttonholes.

That feature of the invention which relates to the means for preventingaccidental disengagement of the buttonhole gripping means consists inthe embodiment selected for illustration, in extending the wire from atleast one and preferably both terminal fasteners to form hooks to engageover the adjacent edge of the buttonhole flap to prevent buckling of theflap edge which tends to-lift the buttonhole edge from the button holegripping means. This is desirable because of the tendency of thebuttonhole flap to buckle. during handling of the upper prior to theapplication of the last. It is to be understood, however, that thefastener of the present invention may be used to advantage without theflap edge holddown hooks, although this combination, as above stated, isa desirable one.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferable embodiment of theinvention, Figure 1 is a view in elevation of a shoe upper mounted upona last at the beginning of the lasting operation, the fastener of thepresent invention being applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a plan view of thefas tener onan enlarged scale; and Fig. 3 1s a is applied. This fastenerin the embodiment selected for illustration is formed from a single"length ofwire, having one end doubled and bent to form a flap edgeengaging hook '6, the wire being extended from this hook and bentto'form a plurality of clasps 8,the inner ends of which are restrictedand substantially closed, the outer ends of the clasps being joined andbent upwardly and inwardly, the upper ends being turned outwardly, toform hooks 10 adapted to extend through the buttonholes to engage theedge thereof and preferably to overlie slightly the edge when the upperis under tension, with the edge of the buttonhole engaging below theupper outturned edges of the hooks, as indicated in Fig. 3. The upperengaging portion of veach %hook will be positioned substantiallycentrally above the button engaged by the adjacent clasp (see Fig. 3),so that when the fastener is applied, the buttonhole flap will :be heldin the position relative to the 7 button flap that these parts willassume when actually buttoned for the button eye -is attachedsubstantially" centrally of the button and will engage theedge of thebut- .tonhole. The strands of wire 14 connecting the series of buttonclasps and-buttonhole "hooks (and consequently the whole wire frameforming the fastener), are bentto curve the series of clasps and hooksso as 'to' present a curvilinear arrangement of button and buttonholegrips conforming substantially to the curvature of the but- 7 tons andbuttonholes of a shoe upper. Theseeonnecting strands are flexible sothat .the' series of fasteners may be variably spaced to accommodate thedevice to the uppers of shoes having different spacings of buttons andbuttonholes and incidentally, slight variance inthe line of curvature ofthebuttons and buttonholes; The wire at the other .end of the series ofclasps and hooks is extended beyondthe terminal fastener-and is doubledand bent to form a second fiap edgehold-down hook 12, similar to-thehook 6, first described, and similarly spaced from the adjacent terminalfastener.

.The fastener is applied to theupper of a button shoe by -moving thefastener transverselyof-thefbutton flap to insert the eyes 'of adjacentbuttons through the restricted-ends of the button clasps, these'restriet'edends openingoutwardly, owing to the resilience of theconnecting strands 14.

The buttonhole flap is'then brought down down hooks 6 and 12, which willserve to prevent any possible disengagement of the hooks 10 from theirrespective buttonholes because of looseness of the buttonhole flap. Toremove the fastener at the conclusion of thervarious operations on theshoe, the edge of the buttonhole flap is disengaged from beneath theupper flap edge holddown hook, after which the flap edge is pulledoutwardly and away from the buttonhole hooks 10 easily clearing thesehooks and withdrawing from beneath the lower flap edge hold-down hook,as the buttonhole hooks are released. The fastener may then beeasilywithdrawn from the buttons by a lateral sliding movement.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A'fastener for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a buttongrip and av buttonhole grip, and a flap edge hold-down device connectedwith said fastener to extend over and beyond the outer end of thebuttonhole flap.

2. Means for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a pluralityof spaced" and connected fasteners, each fastener comprising a buttongrip and a buttonhole grip, and a clasp connected with said fastenersand arranged to extend upwardly from bengath the flap and over andbeyond its outer e ge.

3. Means for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a pluralityof spaced and connected fasteners, each fastener comprising a buttongrip and a buttonhole grip, with clasps connected with said fastenersadjacent the terminals of the plurality of fasteners and arranged toextend upwardly from beneath the flap and over and beyond 7 itsouteredge to hold down the edge of the buttonhole flap. 4. Means forholding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a plurality of spaced andintegrally connected wire fasteners, each fastener comprising a buttonclasp and an integral pro ecting hook arranged to extend through theadjacent buttonhole, and a hook integral with one of said fasteners andarranged to engage over and hold down the outer edge of the buttonholeflap.

5. Means for holding the flaps of button shoes comprising a plurality ofspaced and connected fasteners forming an integral metal structure, eachfastener comprising a button grip and a'buttonhole grip, with integralconnections between said fasteners bent to'curve said fasteners tocorrespond substantlally with the curvilinear arrangement of the buttonsand buttonholes of a shoe upper and an integral clasp extending upwardlyand inwardly and arranged to extend over the outer edge of thebuttonhole flap to hold down said flap edge.

6. Means for holding the flaps of button shoes comprising, a pluralityof spaced and connected fasteners forming an integral metal structure,each fastener comprising a button grip and a buttonhole grip, withintegral connections between said fasteners bent to curve said fastenersto correspond substantially with the curvilinear arrangement of thebuttons and buttonholes of a shoe upper, said fastener connections beingyielding to permit varying separation and curvilinear arrangement.

7. Means for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a pluralityof spaced and connected fasteners in the form of an integral wire frame,each fastener comprising a button clasp and a buttonhole gripping hook,the connections between the fasteners being bent to curve the frame toprovide a curvilinear arrangement of button clasps and buttonhole hookscorresponding substantially with the curvilinear arrangement of thebuttons and buttonholes of a shoe upper.

8. Means for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a pluralityof spaced and connected fasteners in the form of an integral wire frame,each fastener comprising a button clasp and an adjacent projecting hookadapted to extend through an adjacent buttonhole to engage the edge ofthe buttonhole, with integral connections between the fasteners bent tocurve the frame to provide a curvilinear arrangement of button claspsand buttonhole hooks corresponding substantially with the curvilineararrangement of the buttons and buttonholes of a shoe upper, said wireframe at the op posite ends of the line of fasteners being formed withhooks arranged to engage over and hold down the adjacent edges of thebuttonhole flap of the shoe.

9. A fastener for holding one side of a shoe upper in a position inwhich it overlaps the other side including gripping means for thesuperposed side and means overlying the outer edge of the superposedside for preventing buckling of said edge of said superposed side.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

JOHN W. BAER. ERNEST YOUNG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of latente, Wmhflnmon, D. C."

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent N 0. 1,187,882, grantedJune 20, 1916, upon the application of John W. Barr, of Danvers, andErnest Young, of Lynn, Massachusetts, for an improvement in Fastenersfor Button-Shoes, an error appears in the printed specificationrequiring correction as follows: Page 2, line 94, claim 1, for the Wordend read edge; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with thiscorrection therein that the same may conform to the record of the casein the Patent Office Signed and sealed this 24th day of October, A. 1).,1916.

[SEAL] F. W. H. CLAY,

Acting Commissioner of Patente.

